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The State of Mental Health in America

Mental Health Facts, Stats, and Data

Mental Health America is committed to promoting mental health as a critical part of overall wellness. We advocate for prevention services for all, early identification and intervention for those at risk, integrated services, care and treatment for those who need it, and recovery as the goal.

We believe that gathering and providing up-to-date data and information about disparities faced by individuals with mental health problems is a tool for change.

Key Findings

Over 44 million American adults have a mental health condition. Since the release of the first State of Mental Health in America report (2015), there has only been a slight decrease in the number of adults who have a mental health condition (from 18.19% to 18.07%)

Rate of youth experiencing a mental health condition continues to rise. Therate of youth with Major Depressive Episode (MDE) increased from 11.93% to 12.63%. There was only a 1.5% decrease in the rate of youth with MDE who did receive treatment. Data showed that 62% of youth with MDE received no treatment.

More Americans are insured and accessing care. We can continue to see the effects of healthcare reform on the rate of Adults who are uninsured. This year there was a 2.5% reduction in the number of Adults with a mental health condition who were uninsured.

...But many Americans experiencing a mental health condition still report having an unmet need. 1 in 5, or 9 million adults reported having an unmet need.

Mental health workforce shortage remains. Many states saw some improvement in their individual to mental health provider ratio. But in states with the lowest workforce there was almost 4 times the number individuals to only 1 mental health provider.

The State of Mental Health in America

In the above links you will find a Collection of Data across all 50 states and the District of Columbia answering the following questions:

How many adults and youth have mental health issues?

How many adults and youth have substance use issues?

How many adults and youth have access to insurance?

How many adults and youth have access to adequate insurance?

How many adults and youth have access to mental health care?

Which states have higher barriers to accessing mental health care?

Our Goal:

To provide a snapshot of mental health status among youth and adults for policy and program planning, analysis, and evaluation;

To track changes in prevalence of mental health issues and access to mental health care;

To understand how changes in natinoal data reflect the impact of legislation and policies; and.

To increase dialogue and improve outcomes for individuals and families with mental health needs

Why Gather this Information?

Using national survey data allows us to measure a community’s mental health needs, access to care, and outcomes regardless of the differences between the states and their varied mental health policies.

Rankings explore which states are more effective at addressing issues related to mental health and substance use.

Analysis may reveal similarities and differences among states in order to begin assessing how federal and state mental health policies result in more or less access to care.